


Every Day Discovering Something Brand New

by bouquetofwhoopsiedaisies



Series: Keith and the Blade of Marmora [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Cultural Differences, Alien Culture, Alien Sex, M/M, Scent Marking, Scenting, Xenobiology, the Galra are giant space cats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2019-03-29 08:46:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13923558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bouquetofwhoopsiedaisies/pseuds/bouquetofwhoopsiedaisies
Summary: After the group "bonding" session, Keith and Regris have some of their own one-on-one time.  Everything goes smoothly, until Keith makes a bit of an accidental Galra faux-pas, but it all works out in the end.





	Every Day Discovering Something Brand New

**Author's Note:**

> You don't necessarily need to have read "the Bonds of Marmora" to enjoy this one, but the specifics of Galra anatomy in this AU are explained there. 
> 
> The title is from the song “the shape of you” because I just need to _call this dang thing SOMETHING and get it out into the world already_ *flings fic out of my “done” tray*

Being a Blade meant sometimes getting your hands dirty.  Granted, not a lot of Blades were sent to gather more scaultrite from the belly of a weblum, so their hands weren’t usually dirty with stomach-mucus, but that was beside the point.  After having already gone into the belly of the beast (literally) once before, Keith had internally groaned when Kolivan pointed at him for the mission, but outwardly had accepted it and been on his way.  He supposed having done it before gave him the experience to do it again, even if he didn’t like it. Still, it was hard to acknowledge the supposed merits of the situation when he was trudging back to the base with foul-smelling slime dripping off of him.  Someone really needed to find a substitute for scaultrite already, he thought. It’s been ten thousand years and they could literally travel at the speed of sound; surely there had to be a way to manufacture the stuff themselves. 

After dropping off the infernal blue glass-like substance off in the Blade of Marmora’s lab, Keith headed for the locker room, eager to wash the slime off.  He was exhausted from the mission and couldn’t wait until he was able to crawl into bed. What a day…

A huge, dark mass suddenly rushed at him and it was only his battle-honed reflexes that saved him from getting whacked in the face.  He jumped back and reached behind him for his knife before he heard a voice call out “Keith!”

Keith blinked a few times, taking stock of the situation.  He was looking at a glowing Blade mask upside-down, and above it… “What on Earth are you doing?”  He asked, bewildered.

Regris uncurled his tail from the support beams crossing the ceiling of the corridor and gracefully dropped to his feet, dissolving his mask as he landed.  “What does ‘on Earth’ mean?”

“It’s… never mind.”  Keith shook his head.  “What were you doing hanging upside-down?”

“Well, I was sitting up there waiting for you,” Regris pointed to the beam.  “And then I wanted to get your attention, so…”

“And you thought Spiderman-ing in front of me was a good way to do that?”  Keith raised an eyebrow. 

Regris tilted his head, flicking an ear.  “Spy-derman-ing?”

“Don’t worry about it.”  Keith waved it off. Too difficult to explain that one.  “Why were you waiting for me?”

“I wanted to ask you something.”  Regris leaned forward a bit. “How are you feeling?”

Keith blinked, taken aback by the question.  “Fine, I guess? A bit tired. And gross.” He held up his arm and gestured to the yellow-ish green slime coating it. 

“Have you recovered from last week’s… festivities?”  Regris pressed. 

Ah.  ‘Festivities’ was a funny way of saying ‘getting fucked by every Blade available on base’.  Enjoyable as it had been, Keith had been quite sore for a few days afterward. “Oh, that. Yeah, I’m fine now.” 

“Good.”  Regris straightened up, and Keith had a feeling he knew where this conversation was going.  “I greatly enjoyed my turn with you, of course, it was quite fun. But I was looking forward to mating  _ you _ , and there wasn’t time to go a second round before you had to move on and be mated by the others.  So, would you consider going again?”

“You’re asking if we can have sex again, this time with you on top?”  Keith checked. He still wasn’t used to using the word ‘mating’, which seemed to be common Galra vernacular.    

“Yes.”  Regris nodded.  “It isn’t that I was dissatisfied with your performance, but the others all got to feel you and I was looking forward to that…”

“Yeah, of course that’s fine.”  Keith said. “I’d love to do that again with you.” 

“Excellent.”  Regris took a step closer and lifted his hands like he was going to slide them around his waist.  Then he paused and his grin faltered, hands hovering uncertainly over weblum-mucus-covered armor. His expression shifted from considering to disgusted before settling on conflicted. 

Keith chuckled softly.  “I was about to head to the showers.  Want to join me? After I wash this gunk off, you can do whatever you want to me.” 

Regris’s eager grin returned and he nodded.  “I like the sound of that.” 

The two of them made their way to the locker room, which was empty at this time of day.  Regris pulled his legs up to sit cross-legged on the bench, his tail flicking from side to side behind him while he watched Keith pull off the pieces of his armor.  He looked very much like a cat that had spotted a mouse and was just waiting for the best moment to pounce. 

Keith wiped off as much mucus as he could before reaching behind himself to grasp the zipper at the back of his neck.  “Are you sure you don’t want to wait until I… look more attractive?” He couldn’t be very sexy covered in smelly slime.

“You are attractive regardless of the mucus, and despite your alien appearance.”  Regris replied. Keith chose to let that second thing slide, for now. Regris got to his feet.  “Do you need help with the zipper?”

He didn’t, not really.  It wasn’t hard to unzip the back himself, once he figured out how to do it.  But as long as Regris was offering… Keith turned around and let the other Blade slide the zipper down the length of his spine and all the way down to just above his butt.  Clawed hands carefully pushed the fabric aside to touch his bare back, fingers skimming over his skin. “Oh, wow. It soaked all the way through your suit.” 

“I went swimming in stomach acid.”  Keith explained, peeling the top half of the suit off.  Regris subtly wiped his hands off on a nearby towel while Keith stepped out of his suit.  He made a face at the stench as he balled it up and shoved it in one of the cleaning pods.  As far as he could tell, the pods were basically space-magic washing machines and dryers rolled into one, and could even get rid of blood with no problems (a necessity in their line of work).  Keith hadn’t understood much of Thace’s explanation of the science behind it, other than ‘put clothes in, get perfectly cleaned and dry clothes back a varga later’. 

Keith closed the pod and pressed the button to start it, then grimaced at the slippery, smelly mess still coating his skin.  “I’m going to rinse this off.” He told Regris, lips quirking up in a smile. “Come join me whenever you’re ready.”

Regris flashed a sharp-toothed green at him and started taking off his own armor.

Keith headed over to the furthest stall in the shower area and turned on the water.  Hot water burst out of the showerhead, heated by the energy they harvested from the blue star and black holes they used to conceal the base’s location.  Keith’s eyes fell closed and he let out a sigh; it felt good to finally get clean after that mission. He rubbed his skin down to clean it of the foul slime, letting it slip down the drain where he didn’t have to think about it again.  He turned toward the shower stream and bent over slightly, scrubbing his fingers through his hair to clear it of any gunk that had managed to get under his mask. 

Clawed feet appeared on the purple-gray tile behind him.  “Now you’re just taunting me with that sight.” Regris told him lowly. 

Keith straightened up quickly, flicking his hair back fast enough to spray Regris with droplets of water and making him hiss like a cat confronted with getting its feet wet.  “What sight?” He asked, glancing over his shoulder in feigned innocence. 

Regris growled and stepped into the shower stall, yanking the curtain closed behind him.  “Don’t play innocent, Keith. It’s not a good look on you.” Clawed hands slipped around his waist, sliding over his wet skin as Regris pressed close behind him.  “You would look much better thoroughly debauched under me.” He purred, a long tongue dipping out to trace around the shell of his ear. 

One hand slid up to roll a nipple between two fingers, while the other hand crept down his hip and towards the apex of his thighs.  Keith hummed and spread his legs a little further apart. “So get to it.” He leaned back into Regris’s hold, tipping his head back to keep the water out of his eyes. 

“I will.”  Regris nipped at the sensitive skin just under his ear.  “I just want to enjoy myself…” He circled his finger around Keith’s sheathed cock, touch maddingly slow, before his fingers crept further back to prod at his folds.

Keith bit his lip to stifle a moan as a single finger pressed inside him, barely dipping in before retreating again.  He angled his hips to chase it, letting out a low whine, and groaned when the finger returned. Before it could sink in too deep, though, the locker room door opened with a quiet hiss and Keith found a hand clamping over his mouth before he could even register the low chatter just a short distance away. 

“…good to be back, finally,” a voice said gruffly, out near the lockers. 

“Thought that mission would never end.”  Another voice sighed. “Do you think the washing pods can handle this much blood?”

“How the hell should I know?”  The first voice snapped. There was a pause.  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

“It’s alright.”  The second replied, voice quiet.  “The mission took a lot out of us.”

Keith felt the finger withdraw from him again, this time moving to curl around his hip.  Regris leaned in close to Keith’s ear, and even then, it was nearly impossible to hear him.  “Tchiuran and Ehexus.” 

The hand clamped over his mouth let go.  Keith glanced over his shoulder, sending him a questioning look.  Were they going to continue? Surely, they could be quiet enough. There was something kind of hot about the thought of doing that while the other two Blades showered nearby, unsuspecting.

Regris shook his head.  “I heard about their mission.  They’ve just been through hell; I don’t want to bother them.  We’ll finish up in your room.” With that, he slipped out of the stall.  Keith heard him greet the other two Blades quietly, and the three talked in low voices for a few minutes while Keith made sure he was completely slime-free.  Heavy footsteps trudged into the shower area, and he heard two metallic scrapes as the shower curtains were pulled open and then closed again in nearby stalls.  Keith shut off the water in his own shower and slipped out of the stall, grabbing a purple towel as he passed the bin of them near the door. Regris was dressed in his suit once more by the time Keith got dried off and joined him near the lockers. 

Keith paused in front of his locker, realizing too late that he hadn’t brought a change of clothes in with him and his suit was still in the washing pod.  Regris noticed, his somber expression shifting to raise both eyebrows at Keith and smirk at him. The taller Blade jerked his head towards the door and slid a hand around his waist.  Keith let himself be guided away, barefoot and dressed in nothing but a towel. 

Luckily, they didn’t run into anyone else on their walk back to the dormitory wing.  By the time they reached Keith’s room, his skin was covered in goosebumps and his nipples had hardened from the cold air on the base.  It was always a bit cooler than comfortable to Keith even when he was fully dressed, so shivering with wet hair and bare, damp skin wasn’t the best feeling. 

Regris tilted his head as if in thought as he watched Keith place his palm over the scanner next to the door to unlock it.  “Your… texture, has changed.” He sounded confused. 

Keith chuckled, even as his teeth chattered.  “I’m cold. My skin does this when I’m cold.” The door opened and he tugged Regris inside by the hand.  “So warm me up.”

“Gladly.”  Regris pushed him up against the now-closed door as he bent down to kiss him.

Keith let out a hiss and shied away from the metal, shoulders curving forward and hunching up to his ears.  “ _ Cold! _ ”

“Oh, sorry.”  Regris promptly picked him up, a hand underneath him while the other came between the door and his bare skin.  Keith felt the tip of Regris’s tail skim across his lower back. “That better?”

Keith nodded, locking his legs around angular hips and his arms around the back of Regris’s neck.  Now, he was more level with Regris’s face, which he was definitely going to use to his advantage. He leaned in to kiss him, lightly scratching his nails underneath Regris’s large, bat-like ears.  Regris purred and his long tongue dove into Keith’s willing mouth. Keith’s breath hitched, the excitement building up again. “Can we… the bed…?” He was still pretty chilly, after all.

“But you make such amusing reactions here…” Regris teasingly crowding him up against the wall again.  

Keith let out a startled yelp and tightened his legs around Regris’s waist.  He pointedly ignored the sly chuckle near his ear as a shiver wracked through him.  “I am going to bite your tongue off if you pull another stunt like that.” Keith warned lowly.  “Still up to you whether that’s an accident or on purpose.” 

“Don’t get your tail in a twist.”  Regris stepped back from the wall and carried Keith over to his bed.  He tipped him back onto it before climbing on over him and bumping their noses together.  “There. All warm, now?”

“Better…” Keith drew him into a deep kiss.  He slid his hands up Regris’s sides until he reached the top of his back, tugging down the zipper as Regris did something absolutely sinful with his long tongue that had heat chasing away the last of the cold.  Keith pushed the suit open and tugged it down Regris’s arms, while Regris broke the kiss to trail his lips over the line of Keith’s jaw and down his throat. 

Keith tipped his head back with a pleased hum to grant Regris better access.  The other Blade’s fur tickled his skin as he kissed and bumped his cheek against the side of Keith’s throat, the sensation making him laugh quietly.  Hands slid down the front of his chest, lips not far behind. Regris traced his long tongue around Keith’s left nipple while his claws raked lightly down his stomach and abs.  When they reached the towel tied around his waist, Regris made quick work of untucking the fabric and tossing the towel onto the floor beside the bed. Keith shivered as the cool air hit him, but warm hands quickly smoothed up his thighs to chase the cold away.  

After closing his mouth around Keith’s nipple and sucking hard enough to press his sharp teeth against the sensitive skin and leave Keith crying out for more, Regris pulled back enough to look at him.  Flushed and panting, hair still damp and mussed around his head, with his legs on either side of Regris’s hips and the tip of his cock poking out of its sheath already, he made quite a sight. “I knew you would look good under me.”  Regris purred. 

“And I knew you’d look good over me, but I was hoping you wouldn’t be wearing anything.”  Keith lifted an eyebrow pointedly and tugged on the purple suit that was half-undone around his waist.  

“Eager little cub, aren’t you?”  Regris’s laugh came out quiet and hiss-like as he sat back.  

Keith followed him up and helped him slide the rest of the suit down his legs and tail.  “You can’t be that much older than me.” He wasn’t an expert on telling Galran ages, and had pretty quickly realized that every planet had different ways of counting age -- some whose planets rotated more slowly around their suns, others faster, and still others had no sun at all and counted time completely differently -- so it was difficult to compare to Earth years, but Keith thought Regris looked younger than the rest of the Blades, somewhere between them and Keith himself.

“Enough to lord it over you.”  Regris ruffled his hair playfully.  Keith swatted at him without any real irritation.  Regris pushed him onto his back again and slid his hands down his sides, admiring the slight curve of Keith’s waist above his narrow hips.  “What is this, by the way?” He tilted his head as he poked at the divot of Keith’s navel. “I noticed it before, but did not think it the time to ask.”  

“You don’t have a belly button?”  Keith asked, curious. His gaze dropped to Regris’s stomach, but he couldn’t see much past the short, slate-indigo fur covering his body.  

“A what button?  What happens when you push the button?”  Regris asked. 

Keith chuckled.  “It’s not a button like you’d find on a machine.  It’s how human babies get nutrients before they’re born, then it gets cut and tied off and this is all that’s left.”  He scrubbed his fingers through the fur covering Regris’s abdomen, but didn’t feel anything there. “That’s so weird you don’t have one.  I thought Galra were mammals?”

“We are, but my species is the only monotreme Galra type, so our cubs hatch from eggs.”  Regris traced a finger around the edge of Keith’s navel, then trailed his fingers up to thumb at his nipples again.  “The others have these bits, too, so I wonder if they have these ‘belly buttons’ under their fur. I’ve never noticed.”

Keith arched up into his touch with a groan.  “We should ask. Conduct a survey and gather data.”  He suddenly imagined the bemusement it would cause if he went around poking Blades in the stomach.  

“Indeed.”  Regris leaned down and prodded his long, thin tongue into Keith’s navel and swirled the prehensile appendage around, and  _ fuck _ , Keith had no idea that would feel so good.  “After I mate you, though.” He let his tongue drag down the flat, taut muscle of his abdomen on the way down to the crux of his legs, where the pink tip of Keith’s cock poked out of the sheath from all the excitement of being riled up in the showers and to this point.  

Keith pushed his fingers through the short, bristle-like hairs on top of Regris’s head along his sagittal crest as the other Blade coaxed his cock out with his agile tongue.  The fluff of his ears, sticking out from the sides of his head, tickled Keith’s inner thighs and sent thin sparks of pleasure through his legs as Regris continued to blow him.  A particularly hard suck had him selfishly grabbing the back of Regris’s head to hold him there, and he discovered that the fur just underneath the large ears was far softer than that on top of his head.  He rubbed his fingertips through it, fascinated by the softness, and nearly jolted out of his skin when the action made Regris start to literally purr against him. “ _ Ah _ … fuck…” Keith tipped his head back with a moan and ground his hips into the delicious vibrations.   

“What does that word mean?”  Regris asked, the words making soft puffs of breath against his sex while he pressed a single finger inside his entrance and thrust shallowly.  

“It’s what I want  _ you  _ to do to  _ me _ …” Keith told him, hooking a leg over Regris’s shoulder.  The position opened him up a bit more, and Regris used that opportunity to slip a second finger inside as well, scissoring them.  

“I very much want to mate you,” Regris purred as he reached down to spread slick from the tip of his cock all down the length of it.  “Or, as your kind says, I want to fuck you.” He punctuated his words by sliding inside in one smooth movement. 

Keith cried out as the ridges lining Regris’s cock caught and rubbed against his inner walls, the thick length filling him completely.  “ _ Fuck _ !”

Regris paused, looking confused.  “Yes, that’s what we’re doing?”

Keith choked on a laugh when Regris started to pull out again.  “No, that word… it’s also an exclamation.” He caught his breath as just of the tip of his cock rested just inside of him.  

“Hm,” Regris leaned over him to pin his wrists to the bed beside his head, the movement bending Keith in half where his knee was thrown over the other’s shoulder.  “I’m curious to see what other kinds of exclamations I can get you to make. So don’t hold back.” With that, he snapped his hips forward and buried himself inside Keith, drawing another wordless cry from him.  

Regris set a quick pace of powerful, deep thrusts that Keith could practically feel in his stomach.  His cock bobbed with the movement and dripped slick precome that pooled on his stomach, cool and slippery.  Keith’s back arched as he tried to get closer, head falling to the side to gasp out breathless fragments of Regris’s name and pleas to go faster, go harder.  He squeezed around the thick length, and Regris obliged him with a low growl. He shifted his grip on Keith’s wrists to hold them in one hand above his head, just long enough for his tail to curl around their bodies and twist around his wrists to keep him pinned.  Both hands now free, he thumbed over a nipple with one and slid the other hand down the length of his arm and his chest until he reached his cock. Keith shouted and canted his hips up, still lost in the novelty of the sensation of being jerked off, and it was only a matter of time before he was coming with Regris’s name on his lips.  

Regris thrust a few more times into the tightening heat, then buried himself in with a guttural growl.  Keith gasped as he felt the thick cum shoot deep inside him, eyes fluttering closed. “Oh, fuck…”

“We did.”  Regris purred, pressing close to him.  He slid out a minute later, purple-blue cock retreating back into its sheath, and Keith came back to his head enough to notice that his had done the same.  The tail curled around his wrists loosened, tip sliding down his arm even as he left them where they were above his head. 

Regris lowered his body to lay almost on top of Keith, enveloping him in warmth that chased away the cool air.  Keith sighed in contentment, smoothing his hands down the other’s sides and brushing his fingers through his short fur.  This was nice. He felt warm and protected in this embrace. Regris nuzzled his face into the side of Keith’s throat, rubbing the hard jut of his cheekbones against Keith insistently and bumping his forehead under Keith’s chin.  A quiet laugh bubbled out of Keith; the action reminded him of a friendly cat begging to be pet. 

When Regris finished, he leaned back and looked at him expectantly.  “Well?”

Keith blinked.  “Uh…” His confusion grew as Regris just arched an eyebrow at him.  “What?”

“What do you mean, ‘what’?”  Regris’s brows pulled together.  “Isn’t there something you’re forgetting to do?”

Keith wracked his brain.  Admittedly, it took a little bit longer than normal due to the post-orgasm haze.  “Thanks? ...For the sex?”

Regris’s face fell.  “I thought we had something, Keith.”  He rolled off of him, tail flicking in distress.

“We did?  We do?” Keith sat up, completely confused.  “Did I miss something?” 

Regris lifted one shoulder in a shrug as he picked up his discarded suit and pulled the inside-out sleeves back through, preparing to put it on.  “You don’t  _ have  _ to scent me back, I guess, but it is considered  _ polite _ , you know…”

“Scent?  Wait,” Keith reached out and grabbed his wrist, stopping him.  “Wait, I really don’t know. What are you talking about?” 

Regris paused to study him, golden eyes narrowing.  “You actually don’t know, do you?” At Keith’s head shake, he sighed and dropped his suit again.  “Perhaps you never realized it, since you were raised human. Come here, then, I’ll show you.” He reached for Keith and took his face in his hands, thumbs stroking gently over his cheekbones.  Still confused, Keith went cross-eyed as his gaze flicked down, trying to see him, then up to Regris’s face, then away, uncertain where to look. 

After a few moments, Regris frowned and his thumbs started stroking more insistently, pressing into his skin.  “Why isn’t it…?” He tilted Keith’s face up, rubbing along his jawline and under his chin with the palm of his hand.  Letting out a frustrated huff, he turned Keith’s face from side to side and rubbed under his ears. “Unbelievable… Are they broken?  I don’t think that’s possible...” 

“Is what bro--  _ hey _ !”  Keith let out a surprised yelp as Regris hauled his leg up by the ankle, making him slip down onto his back.  Claw-tipped fingers rubbed at the base of his spine and just above his asshole, and he even bent down close as if inspecting it.  “What are you doing?” Keith asked, bewildered. Was Regris trying to go another round?

Regris dropped his leg and leaned over him to rub his cheeks again.  “You really don’t have them, do you?”

“Don’ habe wha’?”  Keith asked, the words muffled by the firm grip on his cheeks.

“Scent glands!”  Regris let go of his face to throw his hands in the air, his tone indicating he thought it was obvious.

“Oh.”  Keith realized.  “No, I don’t have those.”

“You didn’t think you had a dick, either.”  Regris reminded him. “But it seems you really don’t have scent glands.”

“I guess those didn’t make it into the mixed bag that is my human-Galra hybrid genetics.”  Keith said. 

“It’s not even a Galra thing,” Regris huffed.  “It’s an… an everyone thing. All alien species I can think of have them.  Or at least most of them. Do creatures from your planet not?” 

“I mean, some creatures on Earth do.  Cats, dogs, foxes, deer, bears…” he trailed off, thinking.  “Actually, I think humans are one of the only animals that  _ don’t _ have scent glands.  And we can’t smell other animals’ scents, either, at least not really well.”

“Then, you can’t smell mine?”  Regris asked, gesturing around them vaguely.  “You can’t smell any of this?”

Keith inhaled deeply.  “It smells like sex.” He admitted.

“ _ Besides  _ that.  Here,” Regris pulled him closer, pressing Keith’s nose to his cheek.  

Keith tried again and just got a vague skin smell and a whiff of something clean.  “You smell a little like the soap in the showers. What are scents supposed to smell like?”

Regris sat back with a sigh, lifting a hand and letting it fall in resignation.  “Like scents. They’re individual. It’s impossible to explain. If you don’t know, then you don’t know.”  He paused, then turned back to Keith so suddenly that it made him jump, startled. “ _ That’s  _ why you ate the bowl of food goo that I put in the cryo-fridge for a snack!”  

“I didn’t know it belonged to anyone!”  Keith defended. He had gotten hungry late at night and thought the bowl was up for grabs, given that it was in a communal refrigerator.  When Regris had found out, he had looked at him like Keith had just personally insulted his family and honor, then proceeded to ignore the younger Blade for the rest of the day.  

“I scented the bowl before I put it in there!  Anyone would know it was mine!” Regris explained, holding up his hand and wiggling his fingers.  “And here I thought you were just being a dick…” 

Keith groaned and rubbed his forehead.  “No, I really didn’t know.”

“Then how do humans lay claims to treasured possessions and mates?”  Regris asked.

A sudden image popped into Keith’s head of Lance and Pidge fighting over the last can of space-soda a few months ago.  Pidge had wrestled the can away when Hunk tried to mediate, and she had then licked the top of the can to claim it as her own, not even bothered by the disgusted face Lance had pulled.  Somehow he didn’t think that would be the best example. “Verbal agreement, mostly.” Keith said. “Sometimes we write our names on food to let others know not to eat it.”

Regris tilted his head, tail flicking behind him as he considered it.  “How odd.” 

“Sorry I don’t have scent glands.”  Keith apologized, running his fingertips up and down Regris’s sides.  “I would scent you, if I could.” 

“It is a bit disappointing.”  Regris sighed, flopping down next to him.  “No matter. If I scent you, everyone will know what we did, anyway.”  He bumped his cheek against Keith’s again, like a cat.  _ Exactly  _ like a cat, Keith realized, turning onto his side to face Regris.  

“Where exactly are Galra scent glands?”  Keith asked, curious. 

“Along the cheeks, and across the forehead,” Regris leaned up and bumped their foreheads together before lightly scratching the skin below Keith’s ears.  “Underneath the ears -- the scent gland makes the fur softer there -- and along the top ridge of them, but yours are so peculiarly shaped and flat against your head, I don’t know where they would be if you did have them.”  He flicked his own ears as if to demonstrate the difference. “Then there is one in each of the corners of the mouth that are especially strong when leaving a bite during mating. There are some between the fingers and toes that are mostly for marking territory and leaving trails, which is why we always wear gloves and shoes on missions to mask our scents.”  He reached a hand behind Keith and tapped the spot just above his butt. “Those like Antok and I also have a gland at the base of our tails and a few along the length of it.” He paused, pressing down on the spot. “Hang on… you have a tail-bone!”

“I think humans had tails millions of years ago.”  Keith chuckled, wrapping an arm around him as he settled down to go to sleep.  “Or at least, whatever we evolved from did.” 

“Why did you get rid of them?”  Regris asked. “Tails are so useful.”

“Don’t know.  Blame evolution.”  Keith yawned sleepily. 

“You are missing out.  Tails are fun.” Regris flicked his tail behind him and curled it around Keith’s leg.  He bumped his cheek against Keith’s one last time before they both drifted off to sleep.  

**Author's Note:**

> (Meanwhile, in the kitchen…)  
> Kolivan, standing in front of the refrigerator holding a bowl with the word “KEITH” written on the plastic wrap in black space-sharpie: “I don’t understand… he _names_ his _food?_ And after _himself???_ ”
> 
> Please let me know if you liked it! I have a [ tumblr](http://gold-leeaf.tumblr.com/) and a [NSFW tumblr](https://bouquetofwhoopsiedaisies.tumblr.com/) if you want to see me scream about Voltron, or shoot me a request. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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